SS ''British Chivalry'' was a British oil tanker sunk by a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

in the Indian Ocean in 1944.

Construction

The steel-hulled ship was built by Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company of

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

in northern England for the British Tanker Company, the transportation arm of the

Anglo-Persian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling number ...

. Launched on 24 January 1929, the ship was long and in the beam, and powered by a 553

nhp Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

quadruple expansion steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

which gave her a top speed of .

Sinking

On 22 February 1944 ''British Chivalry'' was sailing alone in the Indian Ocean, south-west of

Addu Atoll Addu Atoll, also known as Seenu Atoll, is the southernmost atoll of the Maldives. Addu Atoll, together with Fuvahmulah, located 40 km north of Addu Atoll, extend the Maldives into the Southern Hemisphere. Addu Atoll is located 540 k ...

in the Maldive Islands, on a voyage from Melbourne to

Abadan Abadan ( fa, آبادان ''Ābādān'', ) is a city and capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, which is located in the southwest of Iran. It lies on Abadan Island ( long, 3–19 km or 2–12 miles wide). The island is bounded ...

while in ballast. At 10.30 a.m. the ship was attacked by the Japanese submarine , under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Nakagawa Hajime. The submarine first fired two torpedoes. These were spotted, and the ship took evasive action, so that one torpedo passed astern, but the second hit the ship in the engine room, killing most of the crew there. The survivors abandoned ship, as ''I-37'' surfaced and shelled and finally torpedoed the ship, sinking her in position . ''I-37'' took the ship's captain, Walter Hill, as a prisoner. It then moved off and opened fire with machine guns on the lifeboats. For the next two hours it circled, firing indiscriminately at the lifeboats and men in the water before finally moving off. Fourteen men were killed and another five mortally wounded. The thirty-eight survivors were adrift for 37 days before finally being rescued by the British

cargo liner A cargo liner, also known as a passenger-cargo ship or passenger-cargoman, is a type of merchant ship which carries general cargo and often passengers. They became common just after the middle of the 19th century, and eventually gave way to conta ...

MV ''Delane''. Captain Hill was held as a prisoner at

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

until the end of the war. In 1948 Lieutenant-Commander Nakagawa was tried by the War Crimes Tribunal for the murders of the crews of ''British Chivalry'', and those of on 24 February 1944, and on 29 February 1944. He was found guilty and sentenced to eight years hard labour at

Sugamo Prison Sugamo Prison (''Sugamo Kōchi-sho'', Kyūjitai: , Shinjitai: ) was a prison in Tokyo, Japan. It was located in the district of Ikebukuro, which is now part of the Toshima ward of Tokyo, Japan. History Sugamo Prison was originally built in 1 ...

, Tokyo, but was released in 1954 after only six years, following the end of the Allied occupation. It was not until 1978 that it was revealed that Nakagawa, while in command of the submarine , had also been responsible for the sinking of the Australian hospital ship in April 1943, with the loss of 268 lives. The men killed aboard ''British Chivalry'' are commemorated on Panel 19 of the

Tower Hill Memorial The Tower Hill Memorial is a pair of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials in Trinity Square Gardens, on Tower Hill in London, England. The memorials, one for the First World War and one for the Second, commemorate civilian, merchant seaf ...

in London.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:British Chivalry 1929 ships Ships built on the River Tyne World War II merchant ships of the United Kingdom World War II shipwrecks in the Indian Ocean Ships sunk by Japanese submarines Maritime incidents in February 1944 Oil tankers